VC Daily Digest - 30/11/2023

📮Today’s Major News

• Increasing Numbers of VC funds To Invest In AI Startup

• SpaceX acquired parachute vendor Pioneer Aerospace Amid of Bankruptcy

• Billionaire businessman Mark Cuban Leaving Shark Tank

• Featured Article: Don't Send All 'Your Data To Investors' Too Early In The Process: The Counter-Intuitive Fund-Raising Advice

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💰 Massive Fundings Updates

Fr8Labs, The Singapore and Indonesia-based startup aims to digitize Asia’s logistics industry with its SaaS operating system and has plans to turn it into an open ecosystem that multiple players can tap into with APIs. It has raised $1.5 million in seed funding from East Ventures, FEBE Ventures, Kaya Founders, Mulia Sky Capital, Seedstars, Venturra and angel investors. More Here

Together, A US based startup aims to create open source generative AI and AI model development infrastructure, it closed a $102.5 million Series A funding round led by Kleiner Perkins with participation from Nvidia and Emergence Capital. More Here

DuploCloud, A US based B2B SaaS Cloud Platform which sets of tools to make provisioning apps to public clouds like Google Cloud, Azure and the aforementioned AWS easier,It raised $32 million in a Series B financing round led by WestBridge Capital and StepStone Group with participation from existing investor Mayfield. More Here

CheckRewards, a Dubai startup that says it uses machine learning to offer consumers cash incentives based on promotions, cashback rewards for everyday purchases, and receipt scans, raised a $1.2 million round. Mitgo Group led the investment. More Here

Nanochon, a Washington, D.C.—based regenerative cartilage innovator. Nanochon develops solutions utilized by sports medicine physicians to treat active patients requiring cartilage restoration. It has raised undisclosed amount from cultivate(MD) Capital Funds LP, funds. More Here

Naarea, a three-year-old French startup that is developing a nuclear reactor that uses molten salt as a coolant and a fuel carrier, which it claims is safer, more efficient, and more affordable than traditional nuclear reactors, is reportedly in the market to raise a Series A of approximately $165 million. More Here

ZeroAvia, a six-year-old startup based in Hollister, Ca., that is developing hydrogen-electric airplane engines, raised a $116 million Series C round co-led by the UK Infrastructure Bank, Airbus, Barclays Sustainable Impact Capital, and NEOM Investment Fund. More Here

Hololight, an eight-year-old startup based in Innsbruck, Austria, that claims its platform allows companies like BMW to stream Extended Reality (XR) applications to their employees regardless of their location or device, raised a $12 million round led by Flatz Hoffman, with EnBW New Ventures, Bayern Kapital, and Future Energy Ventures also investing. The company has raised a total of $27 million. More Here

One Click LCA, a 22-year-old Helsinki company whose platform helps customers like Skanska calculate and reduce the environmental impact of buildings and infrastructure projects, raised a $44 million round. PSG Equity and InfraVia co-led the deal. More Here

Scapia, a one-year-old Bengaluru startup that offers Indian consumers a travel platform and co-branded credit card with no foreign exchange mark-up, raised a $23 million Series A round co-led by Elevation Capital and 3State Ventures, with Matrix Partners India and Tanglin Venture Partners also pitching in. More Here

CoordinateHQ, a startup based in Redwood City, Ca., that is developing project management software for client service organizations, raised a $5.5 million seed round led by Initialized, with Webb Investment Network also chipping in. More Here

Squint, A US based platform that connects people with the right information at the right time. Squint is raising a Series A of $13 million led by Sequoia, with participation from Menlo Ventures. More Here

Layla, AI startup taps into creator content to build a travel recommendation app. The company has secured a €3 million ($3.2 million) seed investment led by firstminute capital — which was set up by lastminute.com’s co-founder Brent Hoberman and M13. Other investors include Booking.com’s co-founder Andy Phillips, Skyscanner co-founder Barry Smith and entertainment star Paris Hilton. More Here

Acctual aims to help crypto startups manage their money. It has raised $3.85 million in seed funding at a $15 million post-money valuation. The round was co-led by Third Prime and IDEO and included investors like Alchemy Ventures, OrangeDAO, Soma Capital, Messari’s founder Ryan Selkis, Nium founder Prajit Nanu and others. More Here

🚀 Venture Capital Highlights

Tola Capital Raised $230M Fund to Invest In AI: Tola Capital, investing in AI-enabled enterprise software, secured $230 million in capital commitments for its third fund. Tola Capital raised $688 million in total funds to date. It invests at the seed and early-stage levels in startups innovating the enterprise software industry with the use of AI. Tola Capital III will invest in between 25 and 30 companies globally. Average check sizes will range from $1 million to $4 million for seed-stage companies and $5 million to $15 million for Series A and B. More Here

FEBE Ventures launches $75M second fund: FEBE Ventures’ name stands for “For Entrepreneurs By Entrepreneurs,” and true to form, it is continuing to support seed-stage startups with the launch of its second fund. Targeting $75 million, Fund II is 2.5 times larger than FEBE’s first fund and 90% has already been committed. FEBE Ventures’ first fund focused on Southeast Asia, its second fund’s wide-ranging investment thesis is pre-seed and seed-stage companies across different geographies and sectors. More Here

Sprout Venture Partners raises nearly $10 million for second fund: Sprout venture, Indian VC Firm, raise an additional $5 million by the middle of next year, to take the corpus to $15 million. As a part of its first fund, Sprout VP had raised $5 million, which was invested across 13 companies. Sprout will invest the second fund across 12 to 15 companies with an average cheque size of $500,000, mostly focusing on pre-seed to pre-series A rounds in India. More Here

Failup Ventures, a Helsinki-based, seed-stage venture firm, says it has held a first close of €30 million for a debut early-stage fund that is targeting €50 million in capital commitments altogether. Founded by three previous Finnish entrepreneurs – Jesse Heikkilä, Topias Soininen, and Oscar Andersin – Failup Ventures backs early-stage startups in the Nordics and U.S., writing initial checks ranging in size from €200k to €1 million. More Here

📬 Featured: Today’s Featured Article

Don't Send All 'Your Data To Investors' Too Early In The Process: The Counter-Intuitive Fund-Raising Advice

Recently, I had a chat with a startup founder who successfully secured $10 million in funding for his consumer tech startup. He shared some fund-raising advice that flies directly in the face of what most conventional wisdom will tell you.

Investors Often ask for access to your “data room” so they can do an analysis on whether this would be a good investment for them or not. ‘Most entrepreneurs (and VCs raising from LPs) think this means progress. It doesn’t.’ The data room is where your process goes to die. Read More Here👇

💡 Startups Snap: The Latest Buzz

Startup Valuations

India’s Unicorn Edtech Startup Byju’s Valuation below $3 billion: Investment giant Prosus has written down the valuation of edtech giant Byju’s to below $3 billion, marking a steep drop from the $22 billion valuation the Indian startup hit early last year. The news is the latest remarkable turn of fortunes for Byju’s that has raised over $5 billion to date. Prosus, one of Europe’s most valuable tech companies, identified Byju’s and Pharmeasy, an Indian online pharmacy startup that this year raised capital at a valuation about 90% below its 2021 highs, among the “large underperformers” for the Amsterdam-listed firm. More Here

Startup Acquisition

SpaceX acquired parachute vendor Pioneer Aerospace, which provides drogue parachutes for SpaceX's Dragon capsules, for $2.2 million after Pioneer's parent company went bankrupt. Drogue chutes are crucial for stabilizing and slowing down the Dragon capsule during reentry. While SpaceX is known for vertical integration, the complexity of space parachutes and the need for reliable suppliers led the company to outsource this component. More Here

Chris Sacca's investment firm, Lowercarbon, acquired Climate Draft, a climate jobs site, this past September. More Here

People

Billionaire businessman Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks and a longtime "Shark Tank" investor, announced on the "All the Smoke" podcast that the upcoming 16th season will be his last on the show. ABC has not officially confirmed his departure. Cuban has been a prominent figure on "Shark Tank" since its third season, influencing and inspiring generations of entrepreneurs. More Here

If you're wondering what happens now with Ilya Sustkever, the OpenAI cofounder and chief scientist who pushed for Sam Altman's short-lived ouster as CEO (Sustkever later said he regretted his involvement), his continuing role at the company is apparently TBD. Said Altman in a note to staff that was published at OpenAI's site: " I love and respect Ilya, I think he's a guiding light of the field and a gem of a human being. I harbor zero ill will towards him. While Ilya will no longer serve on the board, we hope to continue our working relationship and are discussing how he can continue his work at OpenAI." More Here

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🤖 The Latest In Emerging Tech: AI

Sam Altman’s officially back at OpenAI — and the board gains a Microsoft observer: Sam Altman has returned as OpenAI's CEO after a board upheaval. The new board includes Bret Taylor, D'Angelo of Quora, and economist Larry Summers, with Microsoft gaining a non-voting observer. Altman aims to focus on research, AI safety, and improving governance after recent disputes over OpenAI's direction. More Here

Elon Musk's social media platform, X (formerly Twitter), seems to have quietly complied with the EU's Digital Services Act, allowing researchers to access data on systemic risks like disinformation and child safety. Despite Musk's previous restrictions, a web form now enables EU researchers to apply for data access, with potential enforcement actions if criteria aren't met. The move aligns with EU regulations, signaling a shift in dynamics amid increased algorithmic accountability. More Here

🗞️ Today’s Must Read On: Startup, Technology & VC

• Managing Data as Product : Office Hours with Philip Zelitchenko Read More (Tech & AI)

• Airbnb's Journey Applying For Y-Combinator Read More (Startups)

• Startup founders going from zero to one have three jobs by Garry Tan Read More (Venture Capital)

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✍️Written By Sahil R | Venture Crew Team

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